The aim of the study is to re-construct discursive conceptualisations of global subjectivities, with a special focus on categories of the global North, the global South, North-South relations and the global citizen. I investigate how these discursive categories are constructed and how they work in educational materials produced by Polish non-governmental organisations (NGOs). I have chosen the NGOs because of their crucial role in implementing and developing global education in Poland.

Postcolonial scholars have indicated the limitations and risks related to the dominant discourse framing global education as charity and benevolent helping (Andreotti 2011, Bryan 2013, Jefferess 2008). These include hegemonic, paternalistic or ethnocentric educational practices that reinforce stereotypes, reproduce inequalities and perpetuate the status quo. It is therefore important to unpack these conceptualisations in a critical and systematic manner and explore the assumptions and worldviews informing them.

This study is a part of broader research project exploring global education discourse(s) in Poland.

The research questions are therefore as follows:

- What are the discursive worldviews presented/promoted in analysed materials?

- How are the discursive categories of global South, North and global citizen constructed?

- What patterns of power relations the analysis reveals?

- What are the possible educational implications of these discursive conceptualisations?

The research is generally framed within a social constructivist theoretical framework, with a critical and social justice orientation. The global North, global South and global citizenship are understood as sociocultural, discursive constructs having their own history, linked to various theoretical and ideological contexts, and promoting particular worldviews. Some of them may contribute to a more socially-just world while others may fail or even reinforce existing injustice.

In my understanding of global education, I am inspired by the work of critical and postcolonial scholars who point out the limitations of soft approaches to global education and global citizenship and promote critical postcolonial approaches (Andreotti 2011, 2014; Swanson and Pashby 2016; Jefferess 2008).

I draw also on the tradition of Polish social pedagogy (pedagogika społeczna) and its long-standing focus on social justice, active engagement, empowerment and emancipation of individuals or groups in their local settings (Lepalczyk and Marynowicz-Hetka 2003).

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